Esports Gets U.k. Government Support

By Casinomeister, Last updated Apr 8, 2016

New eSports international event is being planned to coincide with Olympics in Rio later this year

The International eGames Committee, which is backed by the British government, has announced that a new international eSports event is being planned as a pop-up competition in Rio de Janeiro, coinciding with the Olympics in that city later this year.
Yogonet reports that although there will be no prize pool, players from across the world will represent their countries in a bid to win specially designed gold, silver or bronze medals across multiple games, with national pride the motivation.
Countries currently confirmed for the event include the UK, Canada, Brazil and USA, with more to be added.
The announcement of the project was made during an eSports summit at the London Games Week, which was addressed the UK Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey.
In his address Vaizey said:
"The eGames promises to be an exciting venture that will give eSports competitors across the UK even more opportunities to showcase their talents on an international stage. I welcome the ambitions of the IEGC and their efforts to promote the UK as a leading nation in the eSports sector."
More information on the project will released later this month.
The announcement comes on the heels of a new study by Newzoo which showcases the popularity of eSports on the Twitch streaming service.
The researcher reports that an impressive 21.3 percent of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 comprised eSports content, equating to 475.5 million hours of eSports content watched across all franchises, or an average of over 79 million hours per month.
Newzoo's analysis shows that Hearthstone accounted for 12.7 percent but Dota2 was the big attraction with 51.9 percent.
Twitch has continued to build partnerships with eSports organisations with recent agreements including Psyonix's Rocket League and Super Evil MegaCorp's mobile multi-player online battle area (MOBA) product Vainglory. MOBA activity represents 58 percent of eSports content watched on Twitch.
Adding the Shooter category boosts this percentage to 85.

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